Exercise is a necessary part of a healthy lifestyle. Without proper exercise, muscle tissue decreases, the mineral density of bones decline and people tend toward storing more fat weight. This contributes to a variety of health issues including cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and diabetes. A common aerobic exercise is running. The ground pounding action of running can cause joint issues in some people. In addition, running outdoors requires a suitable space and environment. Weather and personal safety restrict some individuals from performing this activity as often as they would like, as running in bad weather or a bad neighborhood can result in more serious problems than heart disease.
Indoor running and walking can be accomplished by use of a treadmill, but again, the pounding action of the foot on the tread may lead to joint overuse injuries. Other products such as elliptical trainers address this problem but restrict the user to a set gait pattern. Any slight variation between the user's natural gait and the machine's predetermined gait may cause an imbalance in joint loading, as well as muscular development of the limbs being used. Given that people have different stride lengths and they vary greatly in height and weight, it is unlikely that a single predefined gait would be ideal for all users.
It should, therefore, be appreciated that there is a need for a fitness device that enables movement in a variety of gait patterns with minimal transition effort from one pattern to another. The present invention fulfills this need and others.